A stochastic model for an epidemic, incorporating susceptible, latent, and infectious states, is developed. The model represents primary and secondary infection rates and a time-varying host susceptibility with applications to a wide range of epidemiological systems. A Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is presented that allows the model to be fitted to experimental observations within a Bayesi...

Technological and industrial advances allows for biological and non-biological epidemics to spread faster than the world has ever seen. The analysis of epidemiological models and uncertainty quantification represents one of the best strategies for the control and management of infectious diseases. The main contributions of this project are a comparison between simulated and analytically derived...

BACKGROUND Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) imaging is the basis for multiple assessments of bone quality in the proximal femur, including volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), tissue volume, estimation of bone strength using finite element modeling (FEM), cortical bone thickness, and computational-anatomy-based morphometry assessments. METHODS Here, we present an automatic framework ...

Diminazene remains one of South Africa's most commonly used antiprotozoal agents for the management of babesiosis in dogs. Although the drug has been on the market for over 40 years, its intravenous pharmacokinetics are poorly known. To better understand the pharmacokinetics of the drug Berenil, it was reconstituted in sterile water and administered intravenously to 6 adult German shepherd dogs...

BACKGROUND The number of waterpipe tobacco smokers has been increasing worldwide. Smokers can be exposed to a number of toxicants, some of which are metals. The aim of this study is to quantitatively determine if the water filtration stage of the waterpipe smoking process successfully decreases exposure to Bi, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, and U. METHODS Four samples of commercially avai...

Compartmental models based on tracer mass balance are extensively used in clinical and pre-clinical nuclear medicine in order to obtain quantitative information on tracer metabolism in the biological tissue. This paper is the first of a series of two that deal with the problem of tracer coefficient estimation via compartmental modeling in an inverse problem framework. Specifically, here we disc...

Electrolyte leakage of Meloidogyne incognita-infected and healthy tomato roots was compared by conductivity measurements, and by compartmental analysis using Rb. Conductivity measurements suggested difference in electrolyte loss from healthy and galled roots. On a percentage basis, a greater rate of efflux occurred for healthy plants, but galled roots contain more electrolytes and may show a la...